122 
LESSER RED-POLL. 
are a bright fox color ; the legs and feet a dirty brownish whit e, or clay 
color, and very strong ; the bill is strong, dusky above and yellow be- 
low ; iris of the eye hazel. The chief difference in the female is that 
the wings are not of so bright a bay, inclining more to a drab ; yet this 
is scarcely observable, unless by a comparison of the two together. 
They are generally very fat, live on grass seeds, eggs of insects, and 
gravel. 
Species XV. FfiING ILL A LINABIA. 
LESSER RED-POLL. 
[Plate XXX. Fig. 4.] 
Lath, ii., 305. — Arct. Zool. 379. — Le Sizeren, Buff, iv., 216. 
This bird corresponds so exactly in size, figure and color of plumage 
with that of Europe, of the same name, as to place their identity be- 
yond a doubt. They inhabit during summer the most northern parts 
of Canada and still more remote northern countries, from whence they 
migrate at the commencement of winter. They appear in the Genesee 
country with the first deep snow, and on that account are usually called 
by the title of Snow-birds. As the female is destitute of the crimson 
on the breast and forehead, and the young birds do not receive that 
ornament till the succeeding spring, such a small proportion of the in- 
dividuals that form these flocks are marked with red, as to induce a gen- 
eral belief among the inhabitants of those parts that they are two 
different kinds associated together. Flocks of these birds have been 
occasionally seen in severe winters in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 
They seem particularly fond of the seeds of the common alder, and hang 
head downwards while feeding, in the manner of the Yellow-bird. They 
seem extremely unsuspicious at such times, and will allow a very near 
approach without betraying any symptoms of alarm. 
The specimen represented in the plate was shot, with several others 
of both sexes, in Seneca county, between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes. 
Some individuals were occasionally heard to chant a few interrupted 
notes, but no satisfactory account can be given of their powers of song. 
This species extends throughout the whole northern parts of Europe, 
is likewise found in the remote wilds of Russia ; was seen by Steller in 
Kamtschatka ; and probably inhabits corresponding climates round the 
whole habitable parts of the northern hemisphere. In the highlands of 
Scotland they are common, building often on the tops of the heath, 
sometimes in a low furze bush, like the common Linnet ; and sometimes 
on the ground. The nest is formed of light stalks of dried grass, inter- 
